Garden season coming up. How can I control squash bugs organicallly?

Martha Reed
by Martha Reed
  6 answers
  • Jeanette Jeanette on Feb 16, 2017

    Sprinkle squash plant with garlic powder.

    • See 1 previous
    • Jeanette Jeanette on Feb 18, 2017

      Have done! You may have to apply several times over a few days but it works, Pay special attention to the lower parts of the stem where it comes out of the ground. Straight neck squash seem to have fewer worms than crooked neck and actually produce more usable squash meat because the neck is larger,

  • Inetia Inetia on Feb 17, 2017

    Look for products with neem oil. It's made mostly from the seeds of neem trees. It targets bugs that eat the foliage so so it won't kill beneficials because they don't eat the leaves.

    • Martha Reed Martha Reed on Feb 17, 2017

      Thank you I have used neem oil before but it leaves a sticky residue on the squash that is hard to remove without damaging the skin

  • Gal8593216 Gal8593216 on Feb 19, 2017

    Dear Martha,

    Simple soap and water kill a lot of pests, and a cupful of white vinegar diluted with water is excellent. some of the homemade recipes can be quite expensive.

    I live in France, and where we are there are giant bright orange slugs a good 3". My husband refuses to let me have his beer to make a trap :( These are not indigenous to France. The area we live is mild with a lot of rain so you can imagine how they thrive. I found one morning my whole patch of lettuce has been eaten. I do not like killings snails although I do, but these monsters I am happy to go out with a torch at night and take a sharp knife . Aster you find other slugs will come up and eat them, so they are not exactly vegetarian :) The only time they look nice is when they mate. It is a rather spectacular sight !

    There is one mystery I have never been able to solve, and that is giant earth worms. I had seen huge worm casts more like small mole hills that puzzled me and had uprooted seedlings. However friends would come back with tales of seeing a giant worm. I asked if they had brought it back, but there would be a "yeuk no way" in response. Well after more sightings it was starting to sound like a fisherman's tale, while they held their arms out to indicate a length of more than 3 feet. :)

    Finally one day my husband came back with a dead worm of two feet. I have a photo. He said the other half was still on the road and was too squashed to bring back. So these rumors were true. It looked just like an earthworm, not a brambling.

    I have never seen one, and I cannot see anything in books that remotely reaches that length. I would love to know what it is.

    One other tip be it amongst flowers or vegetables plant nasturtium ,basil, mint (cologne or ginger are best as they are are really strong), chives and rosemary, along with marigolds and targets. Also lavender, lemon grass, lemon thyme, dill, parsley, oregano, fennel, ordinary thyme and mint, chrysanthemums, petunias, geraniums, common lantanas, 4 o'clock flowers, the seeds are large and easy to plant and they come in so many different colours. Then one that will look stunning is the tall Allium giganteum whose flower heads adorn stalks up to 6 feet tall, are definitely a broad spectrum natural insecticide. It is so striking, with the nasturtium they would be at the top of my list. They even scare off slugs, carrot fly I think, and aphids plus a lot of others. Each plant tends to have their own speciality when it comes to pests.

    I love to eat the Nasturtium flowers and leaves in a salad as well as the beautiful hibiscus flowers. I am sure I have forgotten many others, one is nettle. It is my staple diet, but as fast as I pull it up it is back again. The real horror here is the bramble which can cover trees. Even the berries do not have the flavor as the ones in Scotland.

    I hope this might be of some small help to you :) and I wish you will have great time in your garden. Is it very big?

    Alas this year is going to be a struggle for us just to try and sort so many things on the farm to mend, with not much money.We were struck by several of these freak storms. The last hit the enormous barn. We totally re roofed the house In the 15 years of living here, and that was so expensive. The barn is going to cost the same as the house ! Then we have to sell, it is just too large for two people.

    Coming from the highlands you do not have a great deal of money, it is those from the South of England. They can sell their small place buy this property, probably make the three vast barns into gites. Put a swimming pool in, and an all weather arena, and at the end they will still have money in the bank. Life.

    We have seen our two neighbors go bio. I hoped that the butterflies and moths might come back like they were when we first arrived. Alas no. I used to see swallow tails every day. I wonder if they will ever come back. It is so sad.

    Nature is my passion and I learnt at 17 all the wild plants, roots, and berries I could eat. I do not like the 'term' vegan' I would rather just say I am a plant eater :) In fact 50% is from around the farm, and woods, I collect things to dry too. My husband is a carnivore. If there is any spare time I paint all animals. Pastels too, mostly horses and cats big and small.

    Well, I enjoyed writing about flowers instead of going through the bank statements as I should have done :). Now it is already just coming up to midnight here , and the alarm goes off at 6a.m. So off to bed I go

    Take care, my e-mail is galeeny@aol.com. In case you have any questions. Have a great week.

    Fran.